Glacier boys roll to state

One word has been directed at the Glacier boys basketball team all season long by their head coach - "Go!"

Well, the Wolfpack are going all right, all the way to Butte for the state tournament.

Ben Cutler scored a game-high 18 points, Shay Smithwick-Hann had 13 points and 11 rebounds and the Wolfpack blasted by crosstown rival Flathead 66-44 in a Western AA postseason play-in game at Glacier High School on Thursday night.

"It feels awesome. This has been a long dream of mine," said Cutler, a senior, who battled through illness in the game. "It was a really good team victory tonight, and we got some good momentum going into state."

The Wolfpack led by a slim five points at halftime, but came out in the second half on rapid-fire mode. Whenever Glacier recovered the ball on defense, head coach Mark Harkins yelled "Go!" and the offense unleashed. Five minutes into the third quarter, Glacier's lead went from five to 14 points. After that, it was all over but the celebrating.

"We're at the top of the world right now," Harkins said. "We're going (to state), so we're gonna go into it with eyes wide open and play hard and do the things that we try to do and see how it matches up."

Mike Rasmussen had 10 points and five rebounds and Ben Sansaver finished with eight points for Glacier, which moves on to state a year after going 3-18 on the season. The Wolfpack (15-6) play at 9 a.m. on March 12 at the Butte Civic Center against the winner of No. 3 Bozeman and No. 6 Billings Senior, who play tonight.

"It's a nice way to continue on what's been a fantastic season," Harkins said. "When we first sat down at the beginning of the season we set out our goals, and getting to state was on there."

This will be the first state tournament for the Wolfpack basketball team as well as its coach. Glacier is the first varsity basketball team Harkins has coached.

"We're going (to state) I guess a little bit naively," said Harkins, who credited his coaching staff in part for the team's success. "You know, we don't know where we're at, we think we're pretty good though."

Flathead came out with upset on the mind, and went punch for punch with the Wolfpack in the first half.

Mike VanArendonk had all 12 of his points in the first half and the Braves were down by only 1 at the end of the first period and stayed within striking distance heading into intermission.

Glacier was successful in keeping Flathead's top scorer, Karl Ingram, at bay. Ingram finished with 5 points. Tanner Salois and Matt McLean scored 8 points apiece and George Sherwood and Connor Tice chipped in 5 apiece for Flathead.

"The boys did a nice job, they started off strong and played right with (Glacier)," Flathead coach Fred Febach said. "But to (Glacier's' credit in the second half, they just picked up the defensive intensity and created some turnovers that really ultimately hurt us. We got caught up in the speed of the game a little bit and we really had trouble settling down."

Flathead finished the season 3-18 overall. Febach said the Braves can turn things around if they really want to.

"I challenged them (after the game), 'What are you willing to do in between seasons to improve your skills?'" Febach said. "If they do not want to suffer through another season like this, they have to spend time improving their skills. For this young team, we don't have to say good-bye to any seniors, so I'm hopeful all of them come back ready to play next year, because I'm really proud of them."

Flathead 10 13 11 10 - 44

Glacier 11 17 24 14 - 66

FLATHEAD - Matt McLean 2 2-2 8, Tanner Salois 3 0-0 8, Ian Gillespie 0 1-2 1, Karl Ingram 1 3-4 5, George Sherwood 1 3-6 5, Mike VanArendonk 4 4-5 12, Connor Tice 1 3-4 5. Total 12 16-23 44.

GLACIER - Josh Doty 3 0-0 7, Conner Fuller 1 0-2 2, Colter Hanson 3 0-0 6, Shay Smithwick-Hann 4 5-6 13, Logan Quay 2 0-0 4, Mike Rasmussen 5 0-0 10, Ben Cutler 7 1-2 18, Ben Sansaver 3 0-1 6. Totals 28 6-11 66

3-point goals: Flathead 4 (Salois 2, McLean 2), Glacier 4 (Cutler 3, Doty 1); Total fouls: Flathead 18, Glacier 14; Technical: Flathead (VanArendonk); Total rebounds: Flathead 25 (Ingram 5), Glacier 32 (Smithwick-Hann 11); Turnovers: Flathead 20, Glacier 11